Bryon Wiegand receives the 2012 American Society of Animal Science Distinguished Teacher Award

July 16, 2012 – Bryon Wiegand, associate professor of meat science at the University of Missouri, will receive the 2012 American Society of Animal Science Distinguished Teacher Award. He will be honored at the society’s annual meeting Phoenix, Arizona.

Wiegand has made significant contributions to undergraduate education and extension outreach at the University of Missouri. In his undergraduate courses, Wiegand relates the basic concepts in muscle growth and effects of environment, nutrition and genetics regarding muscle metabolism, physiology and ultimate condition of muscle as a food product. Wiegand is also known for bringing multimedia technology in the classroom and devoting his time to coaching the meats judging team. To help students see the real world of food production, Wiegand helped develop and supervise a study abroad course in Prague. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in Live Animal and Meat Evaluation and Physiology and Biochemistry of Muscle as a Food.

Before teaching at the University of Missouri, Wiegand taught for seven years in the Department of Agriculture at Illinois State University. During his time at ISU, Wiegand wrote and developed three new courses for the department and offered outreach education through the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom program.

Wiegand’s research interests focus on improving the eating quality of red meats, specifically beef and pork. He has concentrated on changing the lipid profile of red meat through nutrition and processing to change flavor and color attributes of the final product. Although Wiegand is heavily involved with teaching and outreach to meat processors across the state, he has also published 27 refereed journal articles, two book chapters, 12 extension publications, and presented 58 papers at scientific meetings.

The American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Distinguished Teacher Award is given to ASAS members who have made significant contributions to undergraduate and/or graduate animal science education. ASAS is a professional organization that serves more that 5,000 animal scientists and producers around the world.

Media contact:

Madeline McCurry-Schmidt
American Society of Animal Science Communications
MadelineMS@asas.org